Leap Years
by xandrigirly
Summary: Peter knows that no matter what, they'll always come back. Except, one day they don't. A Superfamily AU
1. Prologue

**Notes: **It's been a long time since I delved into fanfiction, forgive me if things are a bit choppy at first! I saw a prompt to someone else somewhere and felt the complete and utter need to write this. It's going to be multi-chapter and I'm not sure how long it will be yet. I do have an idea of where it's going though, so we'll see!

**Prologue**

Peter was under the watchful eye of his favorite baby-sitter, Darcy. He had been for a couple days now, though the six-year-old didn't find that at all unusual. His parents were superheroes, sometimes they had to be gone a long time, but they would always come home. Always. In the meantime, Darcy, or Aunt Jane, or Aunt Pepper would watch him. Darcy was the most frequent caregiver and his favorite. She'd watch television with him, play just about any game he wanted, let him eat breakfast for dinner and ice cream for breakfast, and let him stay up a whole hour after his bedtime.

The third morning after his parents and the rest of the Avengers had gone off to save the world, Darcy got a phone call. There had been shrill worried words and harsh whispers, and Darcy closing herself in the bathroom so Peter couldn't hear. After that she'd come back with a strained look on her face. Though she tried to continue to be his fun babysitter, everything was falling short, and Peter was a smart enough kid to know something was wrong.

It was the night of that morning that everyone came back. The first through the door was his Uncle Clint, who looked worn and who Darcy went to immediately to check over. Behind him was Uncle Thor, then Uncle Bruce [Darcy was checking him over right after Clint. Peter didn't quite understand the relationship shared between the three adults, but he knew it to be some kind of love, even if it wasn't typical], and finally his Aunt Natasha. Peter waited, sure he would see his Dad sauntering in at any moment, helmet off and a big smile for his son, no matter how tired and aching he was. And his Papa would be right behind, ready to sweep the child up into a hug.

No one else came in though. Peter looked over to his aunt and uncles and Darcy, who all had various degrees of serious and regret filled looks on their faces. "Where are they?" he asked in a small voice, already scared. They always came back, _always_. Even if they were injured, the resisted going to medical before they could see their son. Peter was always their first stop.

Natasha knelt down, gesturing for him to come to her. He did, wrapping his arms around her neck as she lifted him into the air. She walked them across the room the one of the couches, sitting, situating him in her lap. The others followed, taking various perches.

"Everything is going to be okay Peter," Natasha started, and that was all it took to make tears jump to his eyes. Even Peter knew 'everything is going to be okay' meant that right then and there, things _weren't_ okay already, and that something was very, very, wrong.

"I want Papa." he tried, because maybe that was all he needed to do. Maybe he just had to demand one of his parents and they would show, and then everything really would be okay.

He only got a sad smile from his Aunt and he would swear for the rest of his life that she'd been crying, only at that moment it didn't seem possible, because at six, he'd always thought Natasha too strong for tears. She smoothed the boy's messy hair, speaking gently. "I know you do, Солнышко. But, we're not quite sure where your Papa or Daddy are right now. We're looking for them, I promise."

Now the tears, which had been few, were flooding. Not even Natasha's gentle tone, the one she reserved only for Peter, could soften the blow of her words to the small boy. He looked around at his uncles, at Darcy, wanting one of them to say something different, to say that his aunt, who was always right, was wrong for once.

No one had a thing to say though. Finally, Thor stood, walking over to where Natasha and Peter sat, kneeling so he was on eye level with his adoptive nephew. He cupped Peter's cheek in one large hand and spoke solemnly. "I know, young Peter, that this is a hard thing for you to learn. However, we all swear that we will find your fathers. Until that day we will be here for you and will care for you."

Peter threw his arms around his uncle and Natasha let him go so that Thor could hold him. He was full on sobbing now, and there was nothing her could say while he was in that state, not that there was much really to be said yet, not with the situation new and raw. He at least had the rest of the Avengers there to comfort him, and less than an hour later, his Aunts Pepper and Jane too.

The large extended family didn't make up for the loss of his parents, but it gave him something to hold onto.

* * *

The internet tells me that Солнышко means 'little sun' in Russian, and in the Roman alphabet is 'SOlnyshko'. If the internet has taught me wrong, feel free to correct me! =]


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: The Fighter**

The first year was the hardest. A year full of leads and pairs of the team going off to check on them, always coming back with nothing but disappointing news that often left Peter in tears. They tried to keep things as normal as possible for him, keep him in a routine and keep his spirits up, but there was only so much they could do. The few days that Peter found himself even for a moment forgetting the situation, the child felt almost instant guilt over it.

It didn't take the media long to pick up on the missing Avengers, and that did nothing to help the situation. Keeping them at bay was a task, and Peter couldn't always be protected from their shouted questions when he was ushered in and out of the Tower.

"Any news on the Captain and Iron Man? How is Peter fairing?" asked one who caught Darcy and Peter at the park somehow, even though they used the secret exit out of their home and everything.

"I will Taser you man, back the hell off." Darcy said, already reaching into her purse. The threat didn't seem to deter the reporter, which Peter found kind of stupid, because every time he ever heard Darcy threaten to Taser someone, he'd always seen her follow through on the warning.

"It's been almost a year, will the process to have them declared dead be started soon?"

Darcy tasered the man, not an ounce of regret on her face. She stood over him, shaking on the ground from the shock. "My boyfriends are the goddamn Hulk and Hawkeye!" she yelled at him. "Come near Peter or me again and you'll think that was a little tickle!"

The anniversary of the day the team came home two members short comes with them no closer to finding Steve and Tony. Sometimes Peter could hear them at night, talking. The phrases 'dropped off the face of the earth' and 'no traces' are what he heard the most.

The second year is marked with Peter becoming more and more used to the disappointment and the idea that there was no real promise his fathers would be found, no matter what he had been told in the past. There were days that he managed to be happy and not feel guilty about it.

The first big change comes three months after the first anniversary, the announcement that they were adding members to the initiative. It was decided that though Stark Tower was indeed the headquarters of the team, they would hold off on actually moving new members into the tower for the time being, allowing them to spend time there, but not live there. For the most part, Peter didn't see them around, and when he did, he went quiet, still not sure how to take these new people in his world.

A second change came when Thor and Jane announce they'd be having their first child. That announcement sent the seven-year-old into a panic.

"I—don't—want—you—to—leave—though!" the boy exclaimed through sobs.

Jane, who had been holding him in her lap trying to sooth him, let a relieved smile slip onto her face. "Oh Peter, is that why you're upset?" she asked, and when Peter nodded, she cupped his face with both her hands and made him look at her. "Peter, Thor and I aren't going anywhere. You're stuck with us. And the new baby. You're just going to have a cousin now. I promise no one is going anywhere."

Peter sniffled, tears still falling when he asked, "Really?" Jane nodded, tugging him into a tight hug.

Time moved on, days blurring together into weeks and months. The fourth year is when Loki starts working on making his penance with the Avengers, and when Clint, Bruce, and Darcy announce their first child. The sixth is when Bucky was found, or re-found, or whatever. He's the first person to ever be allowed to move into the tower right off the bat, though he was very closely watched and considered under Natasha's direct supervision. After all, he was still shaking off remnants of Soviet brainwashing and memory loss.

It's the tenth year when the biggest change happened, a sixteen-year-old Peter bitten by a spider on a science club trip. It's barely a month later that when Spider-Man popped into existence, identity the most heavily guarded one in history, founding Avengers supervising him carefully. They all knew there would be no stopping the boy, and rather than go through the process of trying, they set up rules and guidelines and boundaries to keep him safe. Sometimes Peter would think of breaking these [a lot, really], but all he had to do was think of his fathers, gone in action, and he squashes the thoughts. Still, there are a few things he can't stay out of.

The day still came every year, the anniversary that no one can ignore. It's rare that they themselves talk about it, not the founding members and people who were there that day at least. Peter always heard the newer Avengers talking about it, only to quiet quickly when he entered the room.

And there's still the media. News stories and specials on television, articles in magazines and the papers. Reporters always called to ask for interviews [after Darcy tasered that one, most knew better than to just show up shoving microphones in their faces] and when Peter was seventeen, they sat him down and told him it was his choice if he wanted to talk about it. He was kind of shocked with himself when he answered 'yes' without even seeming to think about it.

"So it's been eleven years; you were only six when it happened, right?" the interviewer asked. They picked the show carefully, they didn't want anyone who would go at him too hard, digging for information Peter couldn't give. Peter still had a hard time talking at first, only nodding in response to this question. "And now you're seventeen. You've proven to be quite the young man, if rumors are anything to go by. Smart as Tony Stark and as good as Captain America. Do you get people comparing you to them a lot?"

Peter smiled, and he knew it probably looked a bit strained. "I do, but I have to tell you, I'll probably never be as smart as my dad, and no one can be a good as Pops."

"Do you remember them well?"

"Yes." Peter said, nodding vigorously. There was a pause, and the woman was clearly waiting for Peter to elaborate. He sighed, running his hand through his forever messy mop of hair. "Pop was great. He always had a good story to tell me when I couldn't fall asleep, he worried if I would so much as sneeze, and made me feel like I was the center of his entire world.

Dad was just, he was always so full of life. He'd take me down to his workshop and let me watch while he did stuff. He'd get so excited explaining things that I got excited even if I didn't understand. They both always had a smile and hug for me when they got home from missions, it didn't matter how long they'd been gone, what happened out in the field, how hurt they might've gotten. I always came before anything else to them."

"And then one day they didn't come home." the interviewer prompted carefully, and Peter's smile fell.

"One day they didn't come home." he said in agreement. "And that was the worst day of my life. My biggest fears realized."

There were questions on what he remembered of that day ['everything'], what it was like growing up with the Avengers raising him ['they're the best family I could honestly ever ask for or dream of having'], did their continuing to fight crime bother him ['someone has to do it, I've learned to accept the dangers and just hope they stay safe'], his plans for college ['majoring in science definitely, I kind of want to minor in photography'], and so on and so forth until they get to the last big question.

"They've still not declared the Captain and Iron Man dead. I have to ask, do you believe they're still alive?"

That stopped him. He opened and closed his mouth, completely unprepared for the question. Sure, in some part of his mind he had known it would most likely come up, but he had refused to dwell on it. Finally. "Of course I do. I'll believe they're still out there until someone give me definite proof that they're not."

* * *

**Notes: **And that would be the first chapter . The real story will start happening next chapter! For that though, I do have a note of the various kids that will appear in here, so everyone can start with a sort of idea of who's who? They won't be major characters but they'll still be there, and there are definitely more than the two mentioned. I'm going to put who they belong to, names and ages, which will hopefully avert some confusion!

For Thor and Jane we have: Elli, a girl who at the start of the next chapter will be 10. Followed by another girl, Freya [7], and a boy, Gunner [4]

Clint, Darcy, and Bruce have: A girl, Imogen [8], Twins, a boy named Abbot and a girl named Lucille [6], and newborn boy named Jackson.

Finally, Natasha and Bucky have a little boy, Ilya [2].


End file.
